The present invention relates generally to computerized multimedia systems, and more particularly to such systems for exploring and executing transactions.
The review and selection of art has been a xe2x80x9chit and missxe2x80x9d process for as long as art has been offered for sale. The aggregation of large quantities of art in the hands of individual art dealers or galleries was a first step towards placing a greater array of possibilities in front of a prospective buyer. However, since the artwork displayed or stored in a gallery represents only a minuscule fraction of the artwork available around the world, dealers normally use transparencies to create more opportunities to make a sale. Catalogues and the like provide still further methods for a dealer to show a client a more comprehensive selection of artwork. However, there is no method by which an art dealer can readily identify the specific features or elements a prospective customer seeks in artwork and then offer that customer artwork with those particular characteristics, unless the artwork is physically located in its gallery, or under its control Thus, if the prospective customer is not satisfied with the artwork offered by that dealer from its own stock, the dealer is generally unable to make a sale.
If a customer is seeking a particular piece of artwork or works by a particular artist, a dealer may try to obtain such artwork from another dealer. However, there has been no method by which a dealer can readily identify inventory of artwork owned by other art dealers except through visits to such dealers, review of published catalogues, or referrals of other dealers who might be familiar with the particular piece of artwork or the works of an artist being sought. If such a dealer is identified, communication between the parties is generally by phone and mail and a photograph or transparency of the desired artwork is sent to the dealer who represents the prospective customer. The prospective customer may then be invited back to the gallery to examine the photograph or transparency and decide whether to proceed with the purchase.
These xe2x80x9csystemsxe2x80x9d are grossly inefficient. There is no quick, systematic method for a dealer to identify the particular elements or features of artwork that a prospective customer may be seeking. Conversely, if a prospective customer desires specific artwork, or works of a specific artist, there is no system that allows the dealer to identify where such works can be found. If the dealer knows where to find such works, long periods of time may elapse communicating with the other dealer, waiting for the arrival of a transparency, and then reigniting the interest of the prospective customer. The present xe2x80x9csystemsxe2x80x9d are equally inefficient for a dealer that wants to sell his own inventory of artwork. He must either wait for a prospective customer to walk into his gallery or send out expensive catalogues. A dealer has no other effective way to apprise other galleries of the artwork he has available to sell.
Another drawback to the present xe2x80x9csystemsxe2x80x9d is the very high cost to dealers. A substantial investment in inventory, real estate (for physical space to display and store the artwork), insurance, handling, personnel, etc. must be incurred in maintaining an inventory of artwork.
Clearly, the current systems are both inefficient for the consumer, or purchaser of artwork, and the art dealer. Thus, the purchase of artwork is often a time consuming process, with the identification of a desired piece of artwork, more likely, the result of chance or serendipity.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a system and method for alleviating the foregoing problems and improving upon the prior systems and methods.
It is another object of the present invention to make available for sale a significantly greater selection of artwork than has previously been readily ascertainable.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide a prospective purchaser with a large selection of artwork that conforms to the specific tastes of the prospective purchaser and thereby facilitate a reduction in the time required to find desired artwork.
It is a further object to increase the sales potential of an art dealer by making his inventory available for immediate purchase by other dealers.
It is yet another object to provide dealers with ready access to artwork from the inventory of other dealers without requiring additional space or investment in inventory, insurance, real estate and other related costs.
It is a still further object to enable dealers to electronically market their artwork and electronically consummate transactions involving such artwork on a worldwide basis.
It is still another object of the present invention to facilitate an orderly and readily available market for the sale of artwork, through a systematized process that maintains a historical record of prices at which works of art are sold.
The present invention comprises a computerized system incorporating high resolution imaging, printing and database management, in a multimedia environment, for the marketing, selection, purchase, and sale of unique, high monetary value characteristic products, including the processing of all documents to effect and settle the resulting transaction, over a high speed communications network on a dynamic, real time basis. The system is preferably used for the purchase and sale of art by dealers in the art industry, but is readily adaptable for use with other product categories with similar characteristics such as antiques, jewelry, oriental rugs, numismatics, philately, and others.
The system of the present invention (the xe2x80x9cSystemxe2x80x9d) specifically addresses existing limitations within the art industry that directly impact a dealer""s profitability. The System provides member dealers access to an extensive and diverse collection of artwork from the inventories of other member dealers around the world to satisfy the most demanding customers while, concurrently, offering member dealers the opportunity to sell their inventory throughout the world. It also enables artists to offer their work for sale directly through any member dealer.
Original works of art are photographed with high resolution cameras, converted to digital images on computer controlled electronic scanning equipment, categorized by different criteria, and stored in a complex computer database along with information about the artist and artwork. The digital images and related data are available twenty four hours a day for virtually instantaneous transmission over the desired media, i.e. fiber optic cables to dealers who are part of a wide area network which extends around the world (the xe2x80x9cNetworkxe2x80x9d). Each dealer in the Network has use of high resolution monitors and sophisticated color printing equipment so that the works of art can be viewed or printed in photographic quality along with information about the artist and artwork, and all other data necessary to effect a sale. The System enables a member dealer to offer its customers a xe2x80x9cvirtual inventory,xe2x80x9d or access to the authorized works of art of every dealer on the Network.
The System replicates the interaction between a salesperson and customer during the sale process with the added benefits of a wealth of information and alternative selections at the salesperson""s fingertips. The System is very xe2x80x9cuser friendly,xe2x80x9d readily learned, and quickly implemented. Despite it""s sophistication, salespersons and customers can use the System with no more difficulty than using a bank""s automatic teller machine.
The System is preferably housed in a prefabricated unit that can be modified to the decor of the dealer""s gallery. In one embodiment the unit is approximately six and one-half feet high, five feet wide, and two feet deep, with two different size, flush-mounted, high resolution monitors. A rounded elongate table approximately four and a half feet long and three feet wide, extends out from the unit. The configuration of the System includes a computer keyboard and mouse to manipulate images and data on the monitors. The keyboard is used principally to enter information necessary to customize images and data and enter the name and address of a specific customer.
In typical transactions, a salesperson and customer sit around the table, discuss the customer""s preferences, and review artwork the gallery has to offer in the same manner as that sale process is currently conducted. However, as compared to any prior systems, the salesperson has a more efficient method of helping the customer focus on particular classifications of interest. This is true whether the customer is a knowledgeable collector or a novice. The salesperson also has a considerably larger number of possibilities to offer a customer, which enhances his ability to make a sale. The System guides the salesperson to display, on the larger monitor, images of artwork from the dealer""s own inventory and inventories of member dealers around the world, categorized by different criteria.
Based on the customer""s choices, the salesperson is able to build a portfolio of possibilities. The customer can examine details such as texture, condition, and color in images magnified on the System""s high resolution monitors. The artwork can also be printed in photographic quality better than gallery catalogue photographs. The System""s use of multi-media also allows three dimensional objects such as-sculpture to be rotated on the monitor and viewed from all sides. Still photographs of the artist can dissolve into video with the artist speaking directly to the customer. If the customer wishes to look at additional pieces, the System is totally flexible and new selections can be made at will.
If the customer likes a particular work, but has not firmly decided to purchase it, the salesperson can reserve it throughout the entire dealer network for a limited period. During this period no one else can purchase that artwork, which is marked on the monitor, for any dealer viewing it, with a green dot (customarily used for xe2x80x9choldxe2x80x9d sign in galleries everywhere). If the customer decides to make the purchase, notification is instantly sent throughout the global network and that particular work is no longer available for sale, and it is marked on the monitor with a red dot (customarily used for a xe2x80x9csoldxe2x80x9d sign in galleries everywhere).
Using simple commands, a series of electronic communications are initiated between the host computer and the buying and listing dealers to effect, and ultimately consummate, the transaction. These include purchase and sale invoices, wire transfer instructions, confirmations of shipment and receipt, and a number of other documents.
The invention provides both the sophisticated and unsophisticated customer (the retail purchaser of artwork) with a quick and easy way to find desired artwork, through a selection process that identifies works of art by a hierarchy of characteristics. It provides an art dealer the opportunity to increase his profitability by increasing his overall sale of artwork. This is accomplished through sales of his own inventory to other dealers as well as sales of artwork not in his inventory, on a timely and highly cost effective basis.
The invention also allows the dealer to provide more personalized service to his customers, such as the preparation of personalized portfolios of individual artwork collections and catalogues for a customized exhibition, less expensively and much faster than under traditional methods. It enables artists to offer their works for sale to a much wider audience than is possible under any existing method. It also enables individual owners to offer their artwork for sale to a wide audience in a forum other than an auction, while allowing them to retain physical possession of such artwork until it is sold.
The invention is unique because it is the only method by which artwork from the inventories of a group of dealers that is continually updated on a dynamic, real time basis, can be seen visually on high resolution monitors or catalogue quality photographic reproductions, and then purchased electronically. It is also the only system that immediately initiates and electronically processes all the documents necessary to consummate the related commercial transaction. Further, it is the only system that allows interior designers and architects to readily identify and purchase existing artwork that matches specific color standards.
The inherent design of the invention enables a dealer to develop a profile of desired characteristics of artwork for each customer. Periodically, or as new artwork is added to the system, the dealer can prepare a portfolio of such artwork for the customer, thus increasing the possibilities for that customer to find a desired work and the dealer to increase its sales.
The multimedia capabilities of the invention enable its use for teleconferencing. Thus, an xe2x80x9cOpeningxe2x80x9d in the gallery of one dealer can be broadcast simultaneously to galleries of other dealers with direct participation of the featured artist. Such capabilities increase the opportunity for more art enthusiasts to participate in an opening event and increases the number of potential customers for the artwork offered for sale.
The creation of a historical record of prices at which individual artwork or works of a particular artist are sold at dealer wholesale prices, provides a more consistent and accurate basis to conduct appraisals for insurance or estate purposes. In addition the extremely large inventory of art available for perusal, allows the appraiser an amazing tool to find or locate works by artist""s name, style, subject, size, suggested retail and dealers"" costs, etc.
Though designed to be used in commercial transactions, a separate application of the system can also be used by a museum to archive its own inventory with a file of color images and data for each work in its possession, which, together with the factual data, can be made available for their own curatorial uses as well as to educational institutions as an easy to use tool to learn about art through access to total collections of work from the most famous artists to those who are rarely seen.
The invention""s imaging and search capabilities can be readily adapted to other industries in which the products sold have characteristics similar to works of art, that is, generally unique in nature and high monetary value. Jewelry, furniture, oriental rugs and antiques, numismatics, philately, are some examples of such products.,
While there exists some computer software that performs certain of the functions of the present invention, such software is geared to the management of a particular gallery""s own inventory. Through the use of modems, some can communicate data with other galleries, but they do not offer real-time, simultaneous access to-color-images-of inventories of galleries on a worldwide or even countrywide network for the purpose of buying and selling products. Nor do they offer the automatic electronic processing of documents between parties to consummate a commercial transaction. The System""s xe2x80x9cClient-Serverxe2x80x9d design, the architecture of choice in most distributed data networks, is an extremely efficient method of handling enormous volummes of images and data, and allows for a comprehensive, transaction based, dynamic, on line, worldwide approach to the purchase and sale of art and other products.
As can be clearly seen, the present invention yields substantial improvements over existing systems. Other features and advantages of the invention are set forth in the following description and drawings.